The USA took a real step toward reducing violent behavior in the Middle East by actually engaging in violent behavior. For the US Air Force it was a single, small, mission. One B-1 Bomber flew from America to deliver a load of missiles aimed at several Iranian supported groups in Iraq and Syria. It was the first of what may be several such missions in response to Islamic terrorists killing 3 American servicemen. The terror groups have launched a large number of attacks on American bases in the region. And the US did nothing. America seemed to favor restraint (or appeasement?) in the hope of keeping the war in Gaza from spreading. There was no shortage of commentators telling the administration that such behavior was likely to be interpreted as weakness and just lead to further attacks. Previous strikes against Houthi installations in Yemen certainly didn’t have the desired effect. Perhaps this one will.
Meanwhile the media is still exhibiting a strong anti-Israel bias in almost all the reporting coming from Gaza. We are told that Palestinians are starving (they’re not!) health facilities are on the verge of collapse (also not true.) and UNRWA cannot distribute aid (True!, But the reason is interference by Hamas terrorists, not Israeli troops).
A lot of words are being printed about an imminent agreement to trade Hostages for a cease-fire. I see that as just another way to try to discredit Israel. Despite probable serious efforts by intermediaries, the terms being leaked so far are not going to be accepted by either side. The paragraphs that leave open details about numbers and duration are precisely the ones where there is little chance of reaching an agreement. There are prisoners that Israel is not going to release (Hamas leader Yahyah Sinwar got out of jail in just such a trade) and Israel is not going to grant a permanent cease-fire or total immunity to all Hamas terrorists, not even all their leaders. Doing so would almost certainly lead to the breakup of the current Israeli coalition, and Netanyahu is not going to win another election now).
Wetherhorn 